Method, system and program product for screensaver breakthrough of prioritized messages

ABSTRACT

Authorized priority alerts are permitted to “pop up” on top of a running screensaver in a computer display without suspending operation of the screensaver. A windows manager monitors for priority alerts from applications. If the screensaver is active in the display, the windows manager determines if the alert issuing application and alert type are permitted to breakthrough the screensaver. If so, an alert notification window identifying the content of the alert is generated and displayed in z-order on top of the screensaver, without interrupting the operation of the screensaver displayed underneath. Some notification windows implement security features by displaying only a portion of the content of the corresponding alert or completely obscuring the content of the alert and only notifying of the presence of the alert. An additional security feature requires the user to enter a password in the notification window before the content or type of alert is displayed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to information processingsystems, and more particularly to a methodology and system for providingcomputer notification of prioritized messages.

2. Description of the Related Art

Computer desktop environments of all major operating systems supportmulti-threaded processing and multiple window displays. Separate runningcomputer processes or applications are represented by graphicalinterfaces in separate desktop windows. Many users try to maximize theirusable display space by using large monitors or possibly using multiplemonitors to display multiple overlapping windows on the display.

A screensaver for a computer work station provides a computer user withthe means of manually or automatically obscuring the display when thecomputer user is either absent or inactive at the work station for someperiod of time. In operation, the screensaver blanks the display orpresents an attractive pattern or image, which is usually repetitivelydisplayed until the user engages the computer. Although screensaverfunctions are successful in obscuring the entire display, there arecertain types of information the user would like to continue to observeor monitor even while the screensaver is in operation. In particular,there are certain prioritized messages and notifications that would bepreferable to receive, but are otherwise hidden by the screensaver. Forexample, it would be desirable for the user to see, either briefly orpermanently, instant message windows, new email subject lines, severeweather alerts, stock ticker information or alerts, etc. Unfortunately,with screensaver functionality currently provided in modern computersystems, prioritized messages generated by executing processescommunicating new and possibly time-critical information are hidden fromview by the screensaver and cannot be observed by the user.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, improved methods, systems andarticles of manufacture for providing alert notification in a dataprocessing system are disclosed. In one embodiment of the presentinvention, a windows manager monitors for receipt of an alert from aprocess requesting display of alert information in the display device ofthe data processing system while a screensaver is being displayed in adisplay device. The windows manager displays a notification windowindicating the alert in a z-order above the display of the screensaverin the display device, wherein the screensaver continues operating toobscure at least a portion of the display device during display of thenotification window. In one embodiment, the windows manager determinesthat the process and alert are authorized to breakthrough thescreensaver before displaying the notification window.

All objects, features, and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent in the following detailed written description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

This invention is described in a preferred embodiment in the followingdescription with reference to the drawings, in which like numbersrepresent the same or similar elements, as follows:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a general-purpose computer system to whichthe present invention may be applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of major components of the general-purposecomputer system shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the user interface systemimplemented as a part of or in conjunction with the software operatingenvironment within the exemplary system.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary Table of All Windows, in accordance with apreferred embodiment.

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary screen display resulting from the Table of AllWindows, in accordance with a preferred embodiment.

FIG. 6 shows an exemplary screen display of an individual window optionscreen, called “Create Screensaver Breakthrough Settings”, in accordancewith a preferred embodiment.

FIG. 7 shows an exemplary table of windows display security settings, inaccordance with a preferred embodiment.

FIG. 8 shows an exemplary screen shot of a display implementing thesecurity function for an inactive window, in accordance with a preferredembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 shows a flow diagram of an exemplary process used to initiate andset up the display security features of a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 10 shows a flow diagram of a process for providing screensaverbreakthrough of prioritized messages, in accordance with the preferredembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

With reference now to the figures, and in particular with reference toFIG. 1, a computer system 101 includes a processor unit 103, which istypically arranged for housing a processor circuit along with othercomponent devices and subsystems of the computer system 101. Thecomputer system 101 also includes a monitor unit 105 (which may be aCRT, a liquid crystal display, flat panel or other display device), akeyboard 107 and a mouse or pointing device 109, which are allinterconnected with the computer system illustrated. Also shown is aconnector 111, which is arranged for connecting a modem or network cardwithin the computer system to a communication line such as a telephoneline, cable or other communication medium. The connector 111 may also beimplemented in a cellular or other wireless network.

Several of the major components of the system 101 are illustrated in theblock diagram of FIG. 2. A processor circuit 201 is connected to asystem bus 203, which may be any host system bus. It is noted that theprocessing methodology disclosed herein will apply to many different busand/or network configurations. A cache memory device 205 and a systemmemory unit 207 are also connected to the bus 203. A modem 209 isarranged for connection to a communication line, such as a telephoneline, through a connector 111 (FIG. 1). The modem 209, in the presentexample, selectively enables the computer system 101 to establish acommunication link and initiate communication with another computersystem, or network or database server. Modem 209 may be an analog,Digital Subscriber Line or cable modem, for example.

The system bus 203 is also connected through an input interface circuit211 to a keyboard 213 and a mouse or pointing device 215. The bus 203 isalso coupled to a network interface subsystem 217 and a diskette driveunit 219. A video subsystem 220, which may include a graphics subsystem,is connected to a display device 221. A storage device 218, which maycomprise a hard drive unit and/or an optical CD, is also coupled to thebus 203. The diskette drive unit provides a means by which individualdiskette programs may be loaded on to the hard drive, or accesseddirectly, for selective execution by the computer system 101. As is wellknown, program diskettes containing application programs represented bymagnetic indicia on the diskette, may be read from the diskette drive,and the computer system is selectively operable to read such magneticindicia and create program signals. Such program signals are selectivelyeffective to cause the computer system to present displays on the screenof a display device and respond to user inputs in accordance with thefunctional flow of the application program on the diskette.

In general, an implementing computer system may include a plurality ofprocessors in a multi-bus system in a network of similar systems.However, since the workstation or computer system implementing thepresent invention in an exemplary embodiment is generally known in theart and composed of electronic components and circuits generally knownto those skilled in the art, the computer system details beyond thoseshown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are not specified to any greater extent than thatconsidered necessary as illustrated for the understanding andappreciation of the underlying concepts of the present invention and inorder not to obfuscate or distract from the teachings of the presentinvention.

In FIG. 3, there is shown a functional block diagram of the userinterface system implemented as a part of or in conjunction with thesoftware operating environment within the exemplary system 101. As willbe appreciated, while a software embodiment is disclosed, those skilledin the art will recognize that the functionality implemented by the userinterface system can also be implemented through an entirely hardwareenvironment of electronic components and circuits, or through acombination hardware and software environment including components fromboth. In this exemplary software operating environment, one or moreapplications and software modules comprising the user interface systeminteract with various modules and components of what is known in the artas an operating system. In addition, the various modules and componentsof the operating system interface with each other. Finally, the modulesand components interface with hardware present on the computer systemthrough what is known in the art as a device driver module and/orthrough an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) adaptation layer. Thespecific device drivers, modules and applications identified in FIG. 3control user interface devices in computer system 101. They are loadedinto system/cache memory 205/207, executed by processor 201 and managedby the computer's operating system (not shown).

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the user interface software system includes awindows management module 311 for implementing the screensaverbreakthrough function as provided in an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention. The user interface software system further includes atrackball device driver 301 coupled between a mouse trackball device(not shown) and a trackball interpretive module 303. The trackballdevice may be a movable mouse riding on a trackball or a stationary baseunit for a trackball mounted on the base. The output of the trackballinterpretive module 303 provides trackball input signals to the windowsmanagement module (WMM) 311. The trackball input signals arerepresentative of user inputs from the mouse/pointing device 109. Thekeyboard 107 is coupled through a keyboard device driver 305 and akeyboard interpretive module 307 to furnish inputs to WMM 311. Acommunication (COMM) device driver 313 couples the modem 209 to a COMMinterpretive module 315 which, in turn, provides inputs to WMM 311. Aninternal disk or diskette drive 317 is operable to run disk and disketteapplications 319 and provide application input to WMM 311.

WMM 311 is a process that runs on top of the operating system. In Linux,this is the X-windowing system. Applications make calls to the WindowManager's Application Programming Interface (API), which allow for theinput/output of data to the screen. In order to accommodate the largenumber of different application needs, operating systems typicallyprovide such APIs to provide processes access to a wide variety offunctionality that is common to many different applications. Any oneapplication generally uses only a small subset of the available APIs.Providing a wide variety of APIs frees application developers fromhaving to write code that would have to be potentially duplicated ineach application.

WMM 311 coordinates the screen data flow from the various devices andapplications into an orderly presentation of windowed information on thedisplay device 221. WMM 311 generates display graphics to a flat panelor other display device by providing input signals to a display devicedriver 321 connected to the display device 221 in the exemplaryillustration. WMM 311 has many internal subroutines to accomplish itsoverall function. As part of integrating keyboard, mouse, applicationand modem (e.g. Internet) input, WMM 311 must serve as the windowmanager for the system and handle window creation, window movement,window iconization, window resizing, window z-ordering and“bring-window-into-focus” (i.e., make it active), amongst many otherfunctions. In order to manage these windows efficiently, it is necessaryfor WMM 311 to maintain a database, called a “Table of All Windows,”identifying all windows displayed or “inconified” for a particularsession.

Screensaver functionality can be generated by the operating system, anapplication or WMM 311 directly. When a “screensaver” function isinvoked, WMM 311 prevents any processes from displaying data on thedisplay. Additionally, some of the devices that interface with WMM 311are masked off, while other devices may continue to function and updatewindow images sent to WMM 311 even though the screen is “locked” by thescreensaver function and will not update or change the display inresponse to the updates while the screensaver is running.

In any modem operating system (Linux, UNIX, Windows), multiple useridentifiers are used for the separation of privileges. In UNIX/Linux,the most powerful user is the “root” user, or the “administrator” inWindows. The most critical processes requiring elevated privilegesexecute as the “root” user. In the case where certain software executingin the system has an urgent message for the user, the system's windowmanager allows the application to “pop-up” a window to the top of theuser's z-ordered window scheme to be displayed at the top of the stackedwindows in the display. In accordance with the preferred embodiment ofthe present invention, certain specified applications are permitted todisplay a notification window at the top of the z-ordering, even abovethe display created by a screensaver executing in the display.

As shown in FIG. 4, a table 400 is an exemplary Table of All Windows forthe computer, and contains information about the contents of each windowpresent in the display, including information regarding the nickname,z-order and the X-Y limits of the pixels of each window as it exists inthe display. Each entry for a window also contains an identifier or“nickname” for the window, which is usually the same or similar to theidentifier or “nickname” commonly seen in the activate button or“pull-down bar” for a window. The user also can cause the X-Ycoordinates of each window within the display to change by moving orresizing windows about the screen. Software functions that create ormodify the content of each window (such as applications executing in thecomputer system) create or modify the display values of the actualpixels identified in the table 400. In order to correctly perform thisfunction, these software functions must always first obtain the X-Ycoordinate data from table 400. From these X-Y coordinates, the heightand width of the window can be derived. Although an actual table is farmore complex, for this example, the screen is depicted as a 100×100matrix. The last column of each entry for a window is the disk locationof the last saved copy of the window.

The table entries in FIG. 4 would result in the exemplary screen displayshown in FIG. 5. As the highest level z-order (i.e. “1” in the exemplarytable 400), the “Fax Viewer” window 509 is displayed on top of all otherwindows. The order of display for the other windows is also determinedby their z-order, except for Iconified applications (for example, theemail application is currently Iconified) and is shown as an Icon (notshown) instead of as a separate Window in the display. The user canchange the Bordering and the X-Y coordinates of any entry by takingactions like mouse clicking or window “drag” and “resize” functions.Table 400 always contains one default entry that describes thebackground layer for the entire screen display and is always locked atthe bottom of the Bordering by WMM 311. All active windows are displayedabove the background in the user's display, even when the background isbrought into focus (i.e., active) by the user clicking on thebackground.

Once a screensaver is activated in the display, the currently displayedwindows are replaced by a static or dynamic image, animation, or in somecases a blank (black) screen. An event in the system will trigger WMM311 to suspend the screensaver and to re-display the current screen.This event is usually some type of input by the user such as moving themouse or hitting a key on the keyboard. In a preferred embodiment, theseevents are sensed by trackball interpretive module 303 and keyboardinterpretive module 307 and are communicated to WMM 311, which thencancels the screensaver display being generated by display device driver321 and reinstitutes the current screen as dictated by the table 400. Inaccordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, anothertype of event communicated to WMM 311 is an interrupt driven from anapplication or process executing within the computer system. If anapplication interrupt is received by WMM 311 while the screensaver isactivated, WMM 311 first determines if a screensaver breakthrough ispermitted for the particular application interrupt under the currentlyconfigured screensaver breakthrough policies, and, if so, WMM 311proceeds to notify the user of the event by displaying a specified alertnotification window on top of the screensaver in the z-ordering withoutsuspending the screensaver display behind the alert window. In otherwords, the screensaver continues to be displayed and operate normally onthe monitor to block the current screen display, but the prioritymessage is displayed over the screensaver.

With reference now to FIG. 6, there is shown an individual window optionscreen provided to the user, called “Create Screensaver BreakthroughSettings,” in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention. This option screen allows the user to select theconfiguration parameters for certain specified windows when a specifiedalert event occurs while the screensaver is engaged. Settings forspecific applications or processes are identified by a nickname. Wheninitially selected, the “Create Screensaver Breakthrough Settings”option menu automatically populates nickname entries for each process orapplication currently executing in the data processing system. The userindicates those applications that are permitted to “punch” or popthrough the screensaver as a “Breakthrough Application.” For eachbreakthrough application, the user identifies the type of alerts thatare permitted to breakthrough, and for each such alert, the user canspecify a “Notification Window Style,” which identifies how such analert or event is displayed to the user at a layer above the screensaverin the display.

Other options could also be specified by the user in the screensaverbreakthrough settings to more particularly control alerts and eventsallowed or denied to breakthrough the screensaver with a prioritymessage. For example, the “Create Screensaver Breakthrough Settings”might explicitly allow or deny entry of particular applications orapplications running under particular users or groups. Further, thesettings could specify breakthrough authorization of alerts above apredefined security level, without regard for which applicationgenerated the alert. Moreover, a notification window's style or behaviorof the notification window could also be configured. For example, thenotification window might periodically move around the screen or havesome other dynamic feature for noticeability. The settings might alsoinclude a security feature that generates a special alert to breakthrough the screensaver to notify the user that an alert was pending butwithout disclosing the content of the alert. In this embodiment, thealert might require the user to input a password or provide some othermechanism to authenticate the user as being authorized to receive thealert before the actual alert is displayed above the screensaver. Thesevarious alternative embodiments would be included as additional settingswithin the “Create Screensaver Breakthrough Settings” screen, howevernot all such settings are shown in the figures.

After being set in the screen of FIG. 6, the user options are saved asscreensaver breakthrough settings in table 700, as seen in FIG. 7. Table700 need only be created once by the user, but may be updated wheneverthe user sees fit. When creating table 700 from the setting screen inFIG. 6, the user may also specify application “nicknames” in column 702for applications not currently being displayed on the screen orexecuting in the system. Later activation of those applications withinthe operating system will load the application's window data into table400 and activate screensaver breakthrough processing of theapplication's alerts in accordance with the settings for the applicationin table 700.

The operation of WMM 311 is now described in conjunction with FIGS. 7and 8, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention. After a period of inactivity or upon user activation, WMM 311overrides the display of the current screen on the computer system andactivates its screensaver functionality. Depending upon user settings,the screensaver blanks the screen or displays some other type of staticor dynamic image on the screen in place of the windows and othergraphical user interfaces being displayed on the screen. Followingactivation of the screensaver, WMM 311 continuously monitors theexecuting processes in the system for generated alerts or notifications.On receipt of such a notification, WMM 311 accesses table 700 at theentry 702 matching the nickname of the application or process issuingthe notification. If the application is designated as a breakthroughapplication (704), WMM 311 compares the received notification event withthe specified priority alerts 706 in table 700. If the notificationevent matches a priority alert therein, such alert is permitted to punchthrough the screensaver. The notification window style 708 specifies theformat and type of notification window displayed on top of thescreensaver. WMM 311 interpolates the information presented by thereceived notification and generates a notification window therefrom, inaccordance with the notification window style 708. WMM 311 theninstructs displayed device driver 321 to display the generatednotification window in a z-order on top of the screensaver display. Thisnotification window is then displayed to the user on top of thescreensaver, which continues to be displayed uninterrupted.

FIG. 8 shows an exemplary screenshot of display 501 implementing thescreensaver breakthrough for prioritized messages functionality, inaccordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. As seenin the example of FIG. 8, a screensaver 801 has been activated withinthe display 501 to block display of windows 503-509 and background 511.In this case, the windows and background 503-511 have been replaced bythe display of a cross-hatched pattern screensaver 801. In the exampleof FIG. 7, three applications with the nicknames 702 “email client”,“word processor” and “web browser” are specified as being allowed tobreak through the screensaver (704), as seen in table 700. The priorityalerts from these applications permitted to break through are specifiedat column 706, and include a “new mail note” from the email client, a“save query” inquiring whether the user wants to save a documentcurrently displayed in the word processor, and stock alerts issued bythe web browser.

As seen in FIG. 8, a notification window 803 has broken through thescreensaver. In accordance with the notification windows style 708, thisemail notification only displays the subject line of the email and notthe entire email. Notification window 805 is a password protected dialogbox issued by the word processor. In this example, a “save query” alert706 generated the notification, but the notification window style 708specifies a “Secure Dialog Box” style. Accordingly, the content of thenotification issued by the word processor is not disclosed, and instead,WMM 311 generates the window 805 indicating to the user that the wordprocessor requires the user's attention. Additionally, this notificationwindow style also requires the user to enter a password in order toretrieve the actual content of the notification event from the wordprocessor. Last, a notification window 807 has been generated inresponse to a stock alert from the web browser. In this example, WMM 311generates a text message within the window conveying the stock alertgenerated by the web browser, in accordance with notification windowstyle 708.

In an alternative preferred embodiment of the present invention, anapplication 319 FIG. 3) implements the screensaver breakthrough forprioritized messages functionality, in accordance with a preferredembodiment of the present invention. An application such as an emailclient takes advantage of this feature through a window manager API torequest that particular messages specified by the application 319supersede the screensaver in the z-ordering of the display generated byWMM 311. Within the application, an option setting table similar totable 700 would specify priority alerts 706 that are permitted to punchthrough the screensaver upon activation. Further, such a table wouldinclude the notification window style 708 to be used for the punchthrough window for such an alert.

With reference now to FIG. 9, there shown a flow diagram for anexemplary process used to initiate and set-up the screensaverbreakthrough functionality of a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention. Process 900 starts at step 902 and proceeds to activate thescreensaver breakthrough settings interface at step 904. At step 905,WMM 311 automatically populates the interface (FIG. 6) with nicknames ofall applications currently running in the computer system. Thereafter,process 900 queries the user to determine if an application nicknamewill be entered at decision block 906. If so, the user desires to setscreensaver breakthrough settings for additional nickname(s) ofapplications that may execute in the future, and enters the applicationnickname into the interface as shown in step 908. Following either step906 or 908, the user specifies applications having screensaverbreakthrough functionality within the screensaver breakthrough settinginterface at step 910. Thereafter at step 912, the user specifies withinthe screensaver breakthrough setting interface the alerts permitted tobreakthrough a screensaver. At step 914, the user identifies anotification styles in the settings interface. Thereafter, process 900ends at step 916.

FIG. 10 shows a flow diagram of a process for providing screensaverbreakthrough of prioritized messages, in accordance with the preferredembodiment of the present invention. Process 1000 starts at 1002 andproceeds to step 1004 where process 1000 remains idle until activationof the system's screensaver. Upon activation of the screensaver, process1000 proceeds to step 1006 where WMM 311 continuously monitors for adisplay alert being generated and sent by an application executing inthe computer system. Upon receipt of such an alert, WMM 311 determines,at step 1008, if the application issuing the alert is authorized tobreakthrough the screensaver with prioritized messages. If not, theprocess returns to step 1006 to await another alert, and the screensavercontinues to be displayed without interruption by the received alert. Ifthe application is authorized for breakthrough, as determined at step1008, for example as specified in column 704 of table 700, the processproceeds to step 1010 where WMM 311 determines if the particular alertreceived from the application is a type that is authorized forbreakthrough by accessing table 700 to compare the received alert to thealerts listed at column 706 for the authorized application 702. If thereceived alert is not one of the listed alerts, the process returns tostep 1006 to await an additional alert. If the alert is listed in column706, the process proceeds to step 1012 where WMM 311 determine the alertnotification style listed in column 708 of table 700 for the receivedalert 706. Upon determination of the alert style 708, the processproceeds to step 1014, where WMM 311 generates instructions for thedisplay driver to display a notification window using the determinednotification style on top of the screensaver and containing theprioritized message delivered by the received alert. If the notificationstyle is of a secure type, the notification style may cause WMM 311 todisplay a notification window merely alerted the user to the fact that aprioritized message is requesting attention without communicatingspecific information regarding the content or type of alert issued bythe generating application.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described withreference to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be madetherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.For example, the present invention may be implemented using anycombination of computer programming software, firmware or hardware. As apreparatory step to practicing the invention or constructing anapparatus according to the invention, the computer programming code(whether software or firmware) according to the invention will typicallybe stored in one or more machine readable storage mediums such as fixed(hard) drives, diskettes, optical disks, magnetic tape, semiconductormemories such as ROMs, PROMs, etc., thereby making an article ofmanufacture in accordance with the invention. The article of manufacturecontaining the computer programming code is used by either executing thecode directly from the storage device, by copying the code from thestorage device into another storage device such as a hard disk, RAM,etc., or by transmitting the code for remote execution. The method formof the invention may be practiced by combining one or moremachine-readable storage devices containing the code according to thepresent invention with appropriate standard computer hardware to executethe code contained therein. An apparatus for practicing the inventioncould be one or more computers and storage systems containing or havingnetwork access to computer program(s) coded in accordance with theinvention. While this invention is described in terms of the best modefor achieving this invention's objectives, it will be appreciated bythose skilled in the art that variations may be accomplished in view ofthese teachings without deviating from the spirit or scope of thepresent invention.

1. A method for providing alert notification in a data processingsystem, the method comprising the steps of: while a screensaver is beingdisplayed in a display device of the data processing system, receivingan alert from a process requesting display of alert information in thedisplay device; and displaying a notification window indicating thealert above the display of the screensaver in the display device,wherein the screensaver continues operating to obscure at least aportion of the display device during display of the notification window.2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the notification windowindicates the presence of the alert without indicating the content ortype of alert.
 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein thenotification window requires user authentication before the content ortype of alert is displayed.
 4. The method according to claim 1, whereinthe notification window indicates the content or type of alert.
 5. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein the notification window indicatesonly a portion of the content of the alert.
 6. The method according toclaim 1, further comprising determining if the alert is a typeauthorized to display over the screensaver and then only performing thestep of displaying if the alert is an authorized type.
 7. The methodaccording to claim 1, further comprising determining if the process isauthorized to display over the screensaver and then only performing thestep of displaying if the process is so authorized.
 8. A data processingsystem for providing alert notification comprising: means for, while ascreensaver is being displayed in a display device of the dataprocessing system, receiving an alert from a process requesting displayof alert information in the display device; and means for displaying anotification window indicating the alert above the display of thescreensaver in the display device, wherein the screensaver continuesoperating to obscure at least a portion of the display device duringdisplay of the notification window.
 9. The data processing systemaccording to claim 8, wherein the notification window indicates thepresence of the alert without indicating the content or type of alert.10. The data processing system according to claim 8, wherein thenotification window requires user authentication before the content ortype of alert is displayed.
 11. The data processing system according toclaim 8, wherein the notification window indicates the content or typeof alert.
 12. The data processing system according to claim 8, whereinthe notification window indicates only a portion of the content of thealert.
 13. The data processing system according to claim 8, furthercomprising means for determining if the alert is a type authorized todisplay over the screensaver and then only performing the step ofdisplaying if the alert is an authorized type.
 14. The data processingsystem according to claim 8, further comprising means for determining ifthe process is authorized to display over the screensaver and then onlyperforming the step of displaying if the process is so authorized. 15.An article of manufacture comprising machine-readable medium includingprogram logic embedded therein for providing alert notification in adata processing system that causes control circuitry in a dataprocessing system to perform the steps of: while a screensaver is beingdisplayed in a display device of the data processing system, receivingan alert from a process requesting display of alert information in thedisplay device; and displaying a notification window indicating thealert above the display of the screensaver in the display device,wherein the screensaver continues operating to obscure at least aportion of the display device during display of the notification window.16. The article of manufacture according to claim 15, wherein thenotification window indicates the presence of the alert withoutindicating the content or type of alert.
 17. The article of manufactureaccording to claim 15, wherein the notification window requires userauthentication before the content or type of alert is displayed.
 18. Thearticle of manufacture according to claim 15, wherein the notificationwindow indicates the content or type of alert.
 19. The article ofmanufacture according to claim 15, wherein the notification windowindicates only a portion of the content of the alert.
 20. The article ofmanufacture according to claim 15, further comprising determining if thealert is a type authorized to display over the screensaver and then onlyperforming the step of displaying if the alert is an authorized type.21. The article of manufacture according to claim 15, further comprisingdetermining if the process is authorized to display over the screensaverand then only performing the step of displaying if the process is soauthorized.